Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index, which opened at 544.09 points on Sunday, fell 1.65 points, or 0.30 percent, over the week to close at 542.44 points on Thursday, the last trading day of the week.[break]
“Although the stock market did not show the robustness of the previous week, investor sentiment remained positive this week as well. This can be seen through the position of the benchmark index, which is still above 540 points,” Stockbroker Nanda Kishore Mundada told Republica.
In the previous week ended February 21, the benchmark index surged to 555.93 points at one point - the highest since 22 November, 2009 - after four major political parties reached consensus on forming an interim political mechanism led by sitting chief justice to hold fresh Constituent Assembly elections.
Since that time, the index has, however, started taking a dip due to uncertainty over whether creation of such a mechanism was possible as parties started coming up with conflicting views.
“Despite this, investors are upbeat as they believe worst has already happened and things could only get better from here,” Mundada said. “So politics will drive the market for now.”
Over the week, hydropower sector was the biggest gainer, with the sub-index rising by 6.12 points to end at 1064.71 points on Thursday. Shares of Chilime Hydropower made moderate gains over the week with its stock price rising to Rs 1,183 by Thursday from Rs 1,175 recorded on Sunday. Butwal Power Company also added Rs 7 to its share value over the week to end at Rs 805 on Thursday. Two other sub-indices - insurance and development banks - also rose marginally over the week.
However, other sub-indices, including banking, which contributes to around 50 percent of the total market capitalization, fell over the week. The banking index fell to 539.77 points on Thursday from 540.65 points recorded on Sunday, which played a major role in bringing down the index.
Since the stock market did not remain as vibrant as that of previous week, share transactions also fell at the bourse over the week. Turnover from share transaction stood at Rs 581.97 million this week as against Rs 622.20 million in the previous week.
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